Creighton stumbles again on the road

Northern Iowa used an 18-6 run to end the game and to knock off the 23rd ranked Creighton men’s basketball 61-54 at the McLeod Center on Wednesday evening.

Creighton (20-6, 9-5 MVC) held its largest lead of 48-43 with 5:27 left in the game after a dunk by Gregory Echenique. Back-to-back scores by UNI’s Jake Koch tied it at 49-49 at the 3:43 mark before the Panthers took back the lead for good on a three-pointer from Matt Bohannon. Koch would score UNI’s final nine points to lead his team to victory.

The loss was Creighton’s third in a row and fifth of their last seven games.

Doug McDermott led the Bluejays with his 27th career double-double and seventh this season. McDermott ended the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Grant Gibbs finished with 14 points and Echenique posted 11 points for his 13th double-digit scoring effort of the year.